Friendship is Magical
by HW Girls
Summary: Four girls meet up on the Hogwarts express and end becoming the closest of friends. They go throughout the year, facing all the trials ranging from schoolwork, to boys, to fighting monsters even their own inner demons.
1. Chapter 1

**Friendship is Magical- A Hogwarts roleplay/story.**

_This story is written by four friends: Kaitlyn (Amy Trelawney), Sarah (Destiny Black), Raven (Nikki Madison), and Mandy (Anja Zimmerman). Hogwarts and the like are © JK Rowling, so: "Don't know, don't own, don't sue."_

_If you'd like to know more about our characters, please go here: www dot freewebs dot com/ hwgirls4/ index dot html  
_

_

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_Amy stood at the platform, staring in amazement at the scarlet train sitting in front of her. Children dashed around her, hauling trunks behind them and squawking parents mingled with the noises of the animals some carried. She herseslf held a snoozing white cat in her arms, barely and adult he was. She sighed and released the handles of her suitcase and pushed her glasses up her nose. This was her first year at Hogwarts- she had attended a wizarding school in America, but that school was thousands of miles away now. She was a fifth year and she knew absolutely nobody except for her aunt, who taught at the school. She was the astronomy teacher, and at times she was a bit over the edge, but she was still family.

"All aboard! All aboard the Hogwarts Express!"

She dashed onto the train right before it started to move. She looked out the window as the door slammed, watching the people slowly start to drift away, along with her sanity and her courage. She felt her knees give a little, but she regained her posture and started to make her way towards an empty room.

Nikki waited in the small room. She was all by herself except for her cat, Midnight, who was sleeping at the other end of the seat. As she looked out the window, she could sense that something was coming. Her eyes glowed a light blue. That "something" was getting closer, and closer, and... "BAAAM!" She snapped back into reality and noticed that someone was at the door. Midnight was hissing at the shadowy figure. Who was it?

"Sorry... I didn't mean to frighten you."

It was a girl with short blonde hair and glasses. Her cat lept out of her arms and went straight to Midnight. The two fought with backs arched and claws out.

"ENOUGH!" screamed Nikki. The cats went back to their owners. Nikki picked Midnight up and stroked him as she looked up into the other girl's eyes and said, "Just who, may I ask, do you think you are?"

"I... I'm Amy... I'm sorry about Artemis, he's never really been around another cat since he was vary little," she looked at the girl standing in front of her, wearing her uniform already. She was in Griffindor, Amy could tell from the striped tie. She sighed. Great, five minutes on the train and already she made a fool of herself. She lowered her head, for she could not look the other girl in the eyes. Her hair fell around her face, the blue streaks blending with her eyes. Artemis peered up at her and mewed apologetically for his irrational actions.

"Wait, are you Amy Trelawney?" the girl said, turning her head to better see her.

"Yeah... Tammy Trelawney is my aunt... I've come to live with her during the school year." Amy's head rose a little bit as she looked at her once again. She looked to be the same age as her, a fifth year as well.

"Ha, Trelawney talks about you all the time, her 'little psychic prodigy'."

Amy froze in place and watched Nikki. She knew? That means so many people will know of her. Didn't even get a chance to fend for herself, to be a different person than she was in America, and she ruined it.

Anja had been settled in a compartment by herself, but now people who had just gotten on the train began to fill her little quiet space, and it became cramped. Hastily, she grabbed her tings and shoved out of the packed compartment with a huff.

MehMeh hooted happily in his cage and fluttered his wings a bit.

"I'm glad you're having fun," she said, her german accent sliding through her voice. "But vould you keep that rucous down!"

She made her way down the hallway to find a less crowded place to sit, and she spotted a compartment with only two oher girls. A slight grin crept upon her pail face as she slid the door open, the other two girls' heads snapping toward her.

"Hope I am not interrupting anything." she jabbed her thumb behind her. "All the other compartments are full." She gave a small cough.

Destiny Black smiled softly as she stepped onto the Hogwarts express.

"Ah. Finally." she breathed. But before she could bask in the moment, she was pushed forward and aside by Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe who were, as always, muscling a path for Malfoy. He sneered at her as he went by, tuging one of her pigtails. Des glared back, not letting herself wince in pain as Pansy Parkington stomped purposefully on her foot. Naitomea hissed from his traveling basket. Des whispered, "Nai, hush. I'm fine." to her jet-black cat. He quieted, but his crimson eyes glittered with malice. His attitude clearly said, "But mom, I only wanted to scratch his eyes out..."

Destiny was to be thirteen in November. She'd been at Hogwarts for the second half of last year, having transferred from America. She'd made no real friends yet- only enemies. Having grown up where everyone was to be treated equally, Des firmly believed that she, a "pure-blood," was no better than anyone else. She often kept to herself. Most thought her stuck-up; except those who realized all Slytherins may as well see her as a Gryffindor. But even they didn't approach her.

Des pulled her headphones down off her ears and turned her CD player off- it had previously been playing her My Chemical Romance CD on the lowest volume; just in case someone, anyone, called to her.

She hoisted Nai's basket higher on her hip, causing him to give a disgruntled mew as she made her way down the corridor. Everywhere was jammed full, it seemed, except one compartment with three girls in it. She poked her head in after Anja, and flushed shyly. They all looked older than her... and all from other houses- which she didn't know yet if it was good or bad.

"Hi. I'm Des. Mind if I, um... join you?" she said softly, her cheeks brightening as their eyes scanned her attire. Naitomea purred, sensing other cats.

Nikki rolled her eyes, sat down, and thought, Oh my God! Here I am in my peaceful world when all of a sudden, not one, not two, but three girls come in here and invade my space! Then all of a sudden it got quiet. Nikki looked up to see that everone else was sitting down with all eyes on her. Twenty minutes of an awkward silence went by, then Nikki decided to break the ice.

"So..." she said, "Is everyone here from different places other than England?"

The dark haired girl with one blind eye looked at her and nodded. "Ja, I am from Germany."

The pink-and-purple-tipped haired girl looked up next and replied, "I'm from the USA."

The blonde tom-boy jerked her head up and said "So am I!" She then turned to Nikki and asked, "What about you?"

"Born in England, but raised in America."

The half-blind girl gave a weak smile and asked "Should ve introduce ourselves? I'm Anja." The tom-boy said, "I'm Amy, pleasure to meet you all!" The goth girl blushed shyly and emitted something like, "My name's Destiny, but you can call me Des." "I'm Nikki! Nikki Madison!"

The other girls' jaws dropped. "You're the daughter of the second richest man on the planet!" Des exclaimed. Nikki blushed on the spot, but she got even redder when a familiar face appeared at the door.

Harry opened the door to the compartment and said, "Sorry, Nikki, didn't mean to bother you." Nikki jumped up and said, "You can never bother me." Harry smiled and said, "We'll chat later, m'kay?" ha winked and he left as quickly as he came. Nikki sat back down and sighed.

Amy stood up and started chanting, "Nikki has a crush! Nikki has a crush!" Nikki blushed and replied, "He's not my crush... he's my boyfriend."

"But he's still a crush." Amy smiled as she sat back down.

"Who wuss'e anyways?" Artemis jumped up into her lap and circled once, then flopped over. Amy rested her hand on him as she watched the other girls, Destiny, Anja, and Nikki. Amy flipped her hair out of her face and raised an eyebrow, noting the odd looks she was receiving.

"That was Harry Potter! Do they not teach you that wherever you came from?" Nikki said, a slightly arrogant tone to her voice.

"No... I'm from California, we didn't really care much about anything other than the beach." Everyone still stared. "I may not be good at casting spells, but I sure can hang ten." Amy decided to hang up and try her call again osme other time.

"I'm sure you'll learn everything there ist to know about Harry this year." Anja mumbled.

Des flashed a hurt, meek look at the others as Harry left, before looking downward to let Nai out of his basket. He lept onto her lap, pussing and immediately flopped.

"Harry and I are... somewhat distantly related. I'm his godfather's niece. But Harry doesn't even know I exist. I haven't gotten the nerve to approach him. I mean, how do you approach someone with that? 'Hiya, Harry! You don't know me, but I'm Sirius' illigitamite niece, Destiny Black!" she said, exasperated. "I mean, I don't know, but... my uncle is dead, and Harry's dad was his best friend. From what I know, my dad was rotten... But if I could find out something... decent... about the family I never knew... I'd feel better, you know?" she finished, suddenly realizing she just opened up to these complete strangers.

Des blushed immediately and hung her head, mumbling "Sorry," as Nai rubbed his head agaiinst her hand. I can't believe I just did that, she thought, How do I know if I can trust them? Well, I have to find out about my biological family somehow...

Anja smiled and rested a hand on Des' shoulder, hoping to comfort her.

"I know nothing of the Black family, other than vhat everyone else knows. But I vould like to help you, und I vill do all in my power to help you find the truth."

Mehmeh gave a hoot from his cage. Anja opened the little door and stroked his feathers gently.

"You know..." she started, "I could... try to contact the other side... for information..." she looked up to see the other girls giving her looks. She thought it wiser to keep her mouth shut about her "abilities," as she was used to others flouting her whenever they found out. She shrugged and stared out the window.

Nikki turned her head toward the window also; The train had finally come to a stop. She could hear people scrambling to get their things together, but her compartment was still and quiet.

"Well..." she said, standing up, "I guess this is where we go our separate ways." Midnight lept onto her shoulders as she gathered her things.

"It was a pleasure to meet you all, it truly was." she grinned.

Everyone else started to get their things. To everyone's suprize, she hugged them all. "I do hope we all have classes together!" Amy looked at her and said, "You're not so bad after all." she smiled and Nikki walked away. She found Harry waiting at the carriages. She looked back and saw all three girls getting into a carriage and thought for a moment, then looked at Harry.

"I think I'll go sit with my new friends!" She kissed him on the cheek and ran over to the other carriage, smiling the whole way.

Neville walked up next to Harry and watched the four girls get into the carriage.

"What a woman, eh Harry?" he chuckled, Trevor snuggling up to him in his pocket.

"Yeah... I'm glad she's making new friends..." He smiled, still watching Nikki. Neville watched as well until he saw Amy, then his eyes grew wide.

"I'm glad too... who is that blonde with Nikki?"

"Not sure... she must be new."

Neville smiled and continued to watch them, and right as Amy was about to leave his sight, she noticed him gawking at her stupidly and then ducked into the carriage.

"You guys... some weird guy standing with Harry was staring at me..."

"It was probably Ron, that skirt chaser." Nikki huffed, Midnight glowering at Artemis.

Anja glanced out the carriage and shook her head. "Nu, that vas Longbottom... or Neville." she said quietly after masking a cough. "He ist excellent vhen it comes to Herbology."

Amy's eyes lit up at the sound of it.

"Herbology? I didn't know your curriculum involved it!"

The carriage jerked into motion and wheeled along. By then it was nighttime and dark clouds had befallen the sky, leaving the carriage dark except for the swinging lantern outside of the cart.

"Lumos." Amy mumbled, the end of her wand glowing brightly now.

"So, what houses are you all in?" Des asked, shyly playing with her pigtail.

"Hufflepuff." said Anja.

"Gryffindor." said Nikki.

"Ravenclaw." said Amy.

"Well, I'm in Slytherin." Des proclaimed, almost sounding ashamed.

"Well... you're the nicest Slytherin I've met yet."

Amy shifted in her seat, unsure of what to say. Her admittance letter said she was in Ravenclaw, but everyone else were in other houses. She never did understand it much, her school was underwater back in California. It was a sunken pirate ship to a muggle's eyes, but with the right enchantment, you could unveil their own little Atlantis.

"I can't wait for Divination, that's my favorite class."

"My aunt Trelawney teaches Divination!" Amy chirped, glancing around the carriage. It was silent for a moment, then everyone burst out into laughter.

"No wonder! I can't believe the glasses didn't give it away!" Nikki chuckled.

Amy frowned and lowered her head, her eyes growing dark and sad.

"Don't pick on me..." she mumbled, clenching her teeth. The cart rattled and her wand-light glowed red and blinked out like a light bulb. The carriage rattled a bit more and then stopped. Everyone looked at each other and then back at Amy.

"Okay... sorry." Nikki grumbled, watching her out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh! Look! You can see the school!" Des cheered, leaning to the side to look out the window. Amy did so as well. Because of the oncoming storm, the school resembled a haunted castle you see in those old-school black and white movies.


	2. Chapter 2

**Friendship is Magical- A Hogwarts roleplay/story.**

_This story is written by four friends: Kaitlyn (Amy Trelawney), Sarah (Destiny Black), Raven (Nikki Madison), and Mandy (Anja Zimmerman). Hogwarts and the like are © JK Rowling, so: "Don't know, don't own, don't sue."_

_If you'd like to know more about our characters, please go here: www dot freewebs dot com/ hwgirls4/ index dot html  
_

_

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_Des' smile melted slowly from her face, leaving her quite sullen. Naitomea nuzzled his basket, as if trying to comfort her through the whicker. Anja poked the others and looked pointedly at Des.

"Vhat is ze matter?" she asked softly, concern reflecting in her eyes.

"I'm a Slytherin. Once we get to the castle, I'll have to stay with my house... and they all hate me as much as I hate them." Des replied, still staring out of the window as the castle loomed, almost forbiddingly, ahead. She absolutely loves Hogwarts, even more so now that she's made friends, but she can't stand being around those in her house.

"Well, a house never has a class by itself, so maybe you'll have one of us during each class." Nikki suggested, flashing a hopeful smile. "Yeah," Amy added. "Vait," Anja said suddenly, "Vhat year are you in?" she asked, peering curiously at the others.

"Third." Des admitted, looking even more depressed.

"Fifth." Nikki mumbled, seeming to droop.

"Fifth." Amy said, biting her lip.

"Vell, ve vill see you as often as ve can. I am in ze fifth year as vell." Anja said, rubbing Des on the back.

Des bit her lip and closed her eyes to hold back tears as Nai let out a piteous mew. "You're the only friends I have here..." she whispered.

Des had been almost overjoyed to be starting her third year- and now she wanted nothing more than to go to her dorm, pull the bed-curtains closed and cry.

Feeling bad that a new friend was upset, Anja went for another attempt to cheer her up. "Maybe ve can all meet up somevhere every night after dinner. Like, ze library or something."

At that moment, the carriage came to a halt in front of the school. "Also, ve may find lots of cute boys..." She gave a nervous laugh, which turned quickly into a cough.

Anja began to wonder how this year will turn out, and she also wondered how long she could keep her secret. The doors to the carriage flung open and someone from outside was calling the students out to go into the building.

"I have an idea!" Nikki said, "Let's go in... together."

The other girls smiled and stepped out of the carriage while the other students scrambled and ran to find their other friends. They were at a distance, but the castle was still huge- with its tall towers and shimmering windows. Nikki broke away from the group and walked towards the gleaming castle. She was pulled away from reality and into fantasy. Her eyes glowed an icy blue color and then a creature flashed before her eyes. She gasped and stepped back and was pulled back down to earth.

Anja looked at her with pity and asked, "Vhat iz ze matter?" There was a silence from Nikki.

"N-nothing... I'm fine." All of the girls looked at her with curious faces. "Truly, I'm fine. Let's go in, I'm starved."

She ran up the steps while the other girls followed with less energy. Before Nikki could make it to the top, the great doors opened to reveal a room filled with suits of armor and moving portraits. Her new friends walked up beside her. Her eyes started to glow again, and worse... Amy noticed.

"Nikki... Your eyes, they are glowing!" she whispered into her ear. She spaced out for only a few seconds longer and then shook her head, looking at Amy.

"It was just my... allergies, yeah, allergies!" She fumbled with her words, while glancing around anxiously. Amy watched her for a couple more seconds, then glanced towards Anja.

"I know of a wonderful place we can meet. Up in the divination tower. It always reminded me of a coffee shop, whenever Aunt Trelawney would tell me about it."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they climbed the steps into Hogwarts. Hagrid stood at the top of the stairs, a somber look on his face. After Dumbledore passed away, the game keeper seemed to lose his luster, in fact, all of Hogwarts was changed. Amy glanced around excitedly, this being her first time in Hogwarts. Artemis slept draped over her shoulder, and Amy felt like a pirate and he was her parrot.

With her head in the clouds, Amy never noticed the large bullfrog hopping in front of her. When she did, she stumbled out of the way, and in the process fell over her robes. She landed face first in the main hallway, her head spinning wildly. She could hear people roaring with laughter and she just laid there, wishing she could just disappear into the floor.

"Trevor! Thank God you're ok!" Neville screeched, running over and scooping him up. He looked down at Amy, and probably made one of the worst mistakes yet to come.

"I'm sorry, mister, Trevor just has this thing for girls, and I guess since you look like a girl-"

Amy's head then shot up as she glared at him, slowly pushing herself off of the floor.

"That's because I AM a girl! You idiot!" she spat, dusting off her boy's uniform. Amy always had a strong loathing for skirts, so instead of a girl's uniform, she attained a set of dress pants and a sweater vest like the boys'.

"Oh my... it's you..." he whimpered, pushing Trevor into his pocket to muffle his croaking.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she sat up and then hopped to her feet, pulling her glasses off her face and examining them. Trevor had popped out of Neville's pocked and Artemis was pawing curiously at him.

"N-nothing, I'm so sorry... Trevor only does that to really pretty girls, and wow, I gotta say..."

"Forget it... It's alright. Is uh... Trevor okay?"

"Yeah! He's right here in my- TREVOR!"

Amy looked down to see Artemis laying on his stomach and trevor on his back, both very asleep.

"Aww... They like each other."

Neville grinned and rubbed the back of his head, blushing as he looked at her. She looked back and glanced into his eyes, and she felt all her anger disappear. She smiled softly and walked over to Artemis, picking both of them up and depositing Trevor back into Neville's hands.

"See ya 'round, Neville." she smiled as she walked away, Artemis once again draped over her shoulder.

"Wait, how did you know my name!" he called out, but she'd already walked too far away.

"Maybe she's psychic." Ron mumbled, as ironically as possible.

Des forced a smile through walking into the great hall, and through Amy and Neville 'meeting'. But then, Hagrid waved his arms, mutely signaling all students to take their seats. Throwing a helpless, lost, and afraid look over her shoulder, Des let herself be swept away by the crowd to the slytherin table. The black flags of mourning had been replaced by house flags, but everyone seemed to grow somber as the looked to the staff table and Dumbledore's old podium. Everyone had been so used to Dumbledore's smiling face and grandfatherly voice greeting them. It was painful to fall back to reality so suddenly.

Professor... or rather, Headmistress, McGonagall was standing where Dumbledore used to, looking stiff- like she was going through life automatically. It was now that Des realized, with a painful clench of her stomach, that she was sitting beside Pansy Parkington. And worse, Pansy was tugging on one of Des' pigtails and whispering nasty things about her new friends.

McGonagall's eyes locked with Des', and Des forced a small smile. McGonagall didn't seem to notice (in fact, she seemed to be looking straight through Des), and clenched her throat, although the Great Hall was already silent.

She robotically droned through the usual greeting and announcements before the food appeared. Des nibbled on a piece of bread and sipped iced pumpkin juice. No one seemed very hungry and the usual chatter failed to echo through the hall. A few murmurs and forced laughs could be heared, but otherwise all was silent.

Those who began with a good appetite soon stopped eating, seeing how almost everyone else had still-empty plates, or were just pushing their food around with their forks. After what seemed like an eternity, the food vanished and the students were sent to bed.

Des waved to the girls a weak, obviously forced, smile as she was pushed toward the dungeons, where the Slytherin dorm was. Ignoring Pansy pulling her hair, kicking, and pinching her, Des went immediately to her bed and lay there for hours (or what felt like hours) until falling asleep.

Anja, with a familiar pang eating at her stomach, made her way to her own house's dorm- after saying her farewells to the others. She slid through the crowd, keeping as close to the wall and avoiding as much attention as possible.

She finally made it inside the dorm, the other Hufflepuff's attention immediately snapped to her. Anja grew uncomfortable under the very much unwanted staring. She walked briskly to the sleeping quarters, fleeing from the morbid hate that was emitting from the others.

She lay in bed, wishing she could go talk to one of the school ghosts or, at least, one of her new-found friends. Instead, she flipped over under her covers, seeing as she never slept often, and just stared off into space, only to be startled later on...

It was about mid-night, and her other roomates lay in a deep slumber, when Anja noticed a, quiet at first, low moaning sound. The sound crescendoed as if it were growing near. Anja raised a little from her pillow and peered into the blackness of the room.

Being a speaker of the dead, her physical senses where somewhat more heightened than others, and a destinct putrid smell met hre nose. From this, she knew immediately what was going on.

"Damn you, Zestos. It's only the first nacht! Vhy must you come to torment me!" Anja muttered almost inaudibly, so as not to awaken the others in the room.

Zestos, though, was unlike Anja's usual spirits. He (or well, "it," as its gender is not quite specific) was an evil... demon... for want of a better word. He was not technically there to torture Anja, per say, but to torture anyone. Anja just says he's after her, because anywhere she goes, he follows, like an overhanging cloud.

Anja knew him well- once one of the Dark Lord himself's own minions. But Zestos was so unlucky, that he even brought You-Know-Who bad luck, who in turn casted him aside.

Anja slid silently out of bed and crept out into the common room, which itself was sparse. She peered out into the vast hallway and stepped out. There was Zestos, looming abover her. A very crass fellow, he stared at her in a kind of stupor.

She was taken aback when she surveyed the hall and noticed there were gallons of blood splattered upon the walls, ceiling, and floor.

"V- vhere did this-" she signaled to the blood that surrounded them, "-come from!"

Zestos did naught but laugh.

"Tell me!" she demanded.

All that came from Zestos' deformed, ghastly mouth was: "I BEAUTIFY THIS PLACE." in a raspy voice.

Anger overtook Anja as she shouted, "YOU DESECRATE AND DEFILE IT!"

Zestos placed a grey, rotted hand upon Anja's shoulder. She could feel all strength draining quickly from her already frail body. And in the place of that strength, Zestos filled her with his vulgar, evil will. Her good eye grew black and her iris glowed red. Before she could even attempt to press her own will against him, she became disconcerted and he pillaged her will from her body. His impending force became all too much for her, and she felt herself pass out.

Anja bolted upright in bed, drenched in sweat.

"A dream! No- no- it- it happened... didn't it?" suprized that for once she had actually fallen asleep, she racked her disoriented brain, trying to decipher whether it had truly happened or if it had been fancy.

The back of her neck tingled painfully, and she pressed a finger on the throbbing spot and felt around. There was a mark of some kind.

"On the first nacht..." she muttered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Friendship is Magical- A Hogwarts roleplay/story.**

_This story is written by four friends: Kaitlyn (Amy Trelawney), Sarah (Destiny Black), Raven (Nikki Madison), and Mandy (Anja Zimmerman). Hogwarts and the like are © JK Rowling, so: "Don't know, don't own, don't sue."_

_If you'd like to know more about our characters, please go here: www dot freewebs dot com /hwgirls4 /index dot html_

_

* * *

_

Anja got up and slowly wlked to the window. It had begun to rain heavily. Her eyes wandered until she saw something very... peculiar. Even through the rain she saw two blue lights. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. A shadow was attached to the lights and then she realized they were eyes. But who's? She shrugged it off as being a hallucination and went back to her bed and, for once, slept peacefully.

Nikki smiled at Anja through the glass. Her eyes returned to the icy blue color they once were. Midnight crawled onto her lap and purred silently. She placed her sleeping cat onto the bed and walked out the door. In the commons room, paintings slept and the fire glittered an orange color. She opened the portrait slightly and peered out into the empty hallway. She climbed out and hurried down the hallway.

She must have passed a dozen rooms and corridors before she reached her destination- the library. She walked down an aisle until she saw a shadowy figure ripping books with his bloody hands. The figure suddenly stopped what he, or "it", was doing and lifted his head slowly and found that Nikki was looking directly at him.

"You can see me...?" he said in a harsh voice.

Nikki nodded her head and smiled. "You're familiar with my friend Anja, are you not?" He glared at her.

"What's it to you?" he rasped.

"Only that if you ever give her a nightmare again, you will regret it for the rest of your immortal life."

He was now confused. "How did you- "

"I know more about you than you think, Zestos," she said. He became wide-eyed. Her eyes flashed an eerie blue and she smiled. He stepped back in horror.

"I-It's... y-you!" he stammered.

Nikki turned on her heel and walked away.

She sighed as she walked down the hall. As she passed a room she found Neville pacing and whispering to himself. "Amy, I... no, that's not right. Lovely day today, isn't it, Amy?... no, no, NO..."

Nikki laughed silently and said, "If you want my advice, I'd just be yourself!"

A startled Neville tripped over the foot-stool and landed on his back. Nikki held her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. Neville gave an embarrassed smile. He got up and sat in a chair and said, "Please, explain whatever will get her attention- I'll do it!"

"There's no need for explanations," she said, "Just be honest and be yourself."

He gave a weak smile and replied, "Easier said than done."

Nikki knew tomorrow would be an interesting day.

Amy awoke with a groan and rolled over, pulling her pillow over her head. Lavender grunted and shook her entire bed, desperate to rouse her. Amy then sat up and rubbed her eyes, shooing her away. She slid out of bed and immediately got dressed, almost forgetting her glasses. She glanced at herself in a nearby mirror and then looked away in shame. She hated the way she looked with short, blonde hair and her thick-framed glasses. With no curves and a small frame, no wonder Neville mistook her for a guy.

She slunk away towards breakfast along with the rest of the school, her head hanging. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Anja walking by herself. Amy sped up a bit and caught up to her, stopping before she ran into the slytherin girl in front of her.

"Hi, good morning?"

"What's so good about it? It just started."

"Touché."

Amy sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, debating on what to say. They broke through the Great Hall and gasped, eyes wide to what they now saw.

Instead of the usual four long tables, there were a bunch of round tables. They hesitated for a moment and then shuffled to a lone table in the corner. As soon as the two of them sat down, they were joined by Des, Nikki and Harry hand in hand, and of course Ron and Hermione. Amy glanced up and spotted Neville gravitating towards them.

"G'morning, Amy, how was your night?"

She shrugged and looked down at the hardwood table, examining the fine grains.

"Fine, I guess."

Neville blushed and then turned his head away.

"Well, good morning ladies and gents," came a cool voice from behind them.

Everyone turned in their chairs and looked up, the girls' jaws dropping and the guys' eyebrows furrowing in disbelief.

A man, probably a seventh year, stood behind them, tossing long blond strands out of his face. It was like a god had walked into their prescence. He had dark green eyes that hid behind shoulder-length platinum blonde hair. He had a black bandana folded and tied over one eye and the knot was neatly placed to the side.

Amy's eyes opened wide as she stared up at him. She then hurriedly removed her glasses and put them away, smiling sheepishly.

"Mind if I sit with you?" he looked around the table, Ron, Harry, and Neville glaring at him. The girls nodded and he pulled out a chair in between Anja and Des. As soon as he sat down, food appeared on the table. The whole group began to eat hungrily since nobody had been in the mood to eat the night before.

"As you may have noticed, we have decided to change things since Dumbledore's... passing on. We have decided that unity will be the best protection against the... recent mishaps. Therefore we have decided to change things around a bit. The seperate tables have been taken away."

Des, who was picking at her food more than eating it, looked up. Her expression went from vapid confusion to slightly embarassed happiness.

"You mean..." she began timidly, blushing, "I get to sit with my friends?"

Her gaze went from each face of her new group to the new boy. Instead of looking away and blushing more, Des found herself lost in his eye. No, truly drowning in the heavenly green shade- for there was only one orb visible, so her attention could focus on it, instead of fleetingly glancing into the other. After what seemed an eternity ( it was really only five seconds), she looked back at her plate. What was she thinking? She was nowhere near good enough for him.

"Yes." she heared him reply, forcing her to look back up at him, "You can sit with anyone you like."

Des looked to each of her girlfriends, shyly glowing.

"And," he murmured, leaning over the table as if sharing a secret (so everyone else leaned in too, though the guys did so grudgingly), "All classes will be mixed. Depending on how good you are, you can be in any class. Your house and year no longer determine your classes- but the power of your mind does."

Des glanced to her friends in turn once more, silently hoping to be in a class with at least one of them. Amy looked to the new boy, and he returned her gaze. She looked away, blushing, only for him to take her chin and turn her face towards his, forcing her to stare into his hue.

"You have beautiful eyes, did you know that?" he asked, flashing one of his award-winning smiles. Amy lost her breath, and Des grins. For a split second, Des had been jealous- but it had melted the moment she saw how the boy's face lit up when he caught Amy staring. Des was suddenly exceedingly happy for her friend, and very proud.

Obviously putting forth a ton of effort to pull his attention off of Amy, the boy looked up at the rest of them, blushing very slightly.

"Oh, and we won't start classes until tomorrow," he explained, "Because we get to re-figure what courses we want."

"Ve can have a ton of classes together!" Anja suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone turned to her and began talking amongst themselves all at once, the excitement spreading like wildfire from one excited face to the next. They were soon silenced, however, when McGonagal called for their attention, and Des and the others cheered louder than anyone at the announcement.

Now the whole school was buzizng- even the slytherins seemed happy. About what, seeing as how they were too stuck-up to care about anyone outside their house, Des didn't care. Everyone was then told to eat breakfast- and that once they'd eaten, they'd be given a blank course list, and were to spend the remainder of the day 'carefully examining what classes to take.'

"Mum will have a heart attack if Ginny and I sign up for all new classes," Ron whined, "This stuff's expensive."

"Can't you return what you aren't going to use?" Hermione mused, smirking.

"If you have a spell to get 'Roonil Wazlib' off of it all." he moped.

Hermione laughed. "You're still using Fred and George's spell-checking quill?" she giggled.

"No!" he denied, flushing, "Ginny thought it would be a laugh."

Everyone laughed, including Ron, and Hermione told him to use a vanishing spell. They began eating quickly, eager to start filling out their papers with classes they could take together.

Des was extremely bright, and could probably do well in any class- so for the first time since the ride to the castle, she positively beamed.

Anja pondered to herself what classes, exactly, that she was going to take. She knew that she definately wanted to take another history class, but other than that... she didn't know. Deep in thought, she jumped when a slight nudging came from her left. It was the new guy- whom Anja had forgotten his name when he had introduced himself to the others while she was in her own world.

"You've got enough time to choose classes," he said, as if reading her mind. "Spend some time with your friends and don't worry about that just yet."

Then he smiled over at Amy and gave her a sweet wink, that could have been an odd blink for the bandana covered the other eye and made it a bit funny-looking.

Anja sighed and was, yet again, startled by a loud voice coming from directly behind her.

"HEY! What'cha doing sitting here? Think you're going to pick up some chicks?"

Everyone at the table directed their attention to where the voice came from. Obiously a friend of the 'new guy's'.

"He. I'm just kidding, Demitri." he said, pulling up a chair between Demitri and Anja.

"Very funny, Logan," Demitri scowled, then added in his own charming laugh- which made Amy blush a bit.

It was now that Anja caught a glimpse of who would actually be her first love- as she had never had a guy come within thirty feet of her on his own free will (an exception to Demitri, as he had been sitting next to her).

Anja shyly glanced at a yound man with raven-black hair and clear, crystal-blue eyes. He was a bit pale, with light freckles spotted on his cheeks and nose, and a small patch of a black gotee on his clefted chin. Anja was in a daze until she realized he was speaking to her.

"... hey... What's up with your eye? It's cool-looking." he grinned, producing dimples at the corners of his mouth.

"Oh... yeah..." Anja blushed. "I'm... blind in this eye..." she murmured.

Usually she would have gotten offended if someone had made a comment on her eye, but for some reason, his attention soothed her.

"Does... it bother you?" she questioned.

"Not at all." he laughed, then leaned forward and whispered to her, "I like it."

Amy threw a sausage at him and it made contact square in the head. Everyone but Amy, Logan, and Demitri paused. The three exclusions bursted out into laughter. Anja was confused.

"Do you know each other?" Nikki asked

"KNOW each other?" Amy repeated. "I know Logan from back home!"

"Technically, he's from Germany." Demitri stated.

"Vhat? From Germany?" Anja was intrigued.

"Why don't you have an accent, like Anja?" asked Des.

"Spent too much time in Cali." Logan said curtly.

Nikki couldn't help but laugh at this strange new guy. Her attention quickly changed to Demitri. She had seen him before. Being the Angel of Mercy, she had met many people in her life, which only made things harder. Harry squeezed her hand and asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes..." she said slowly, "Yes, everything is... alright."

The day seemed to pass by very fast. Soon she and her friends were enjoying the cool breeze by the lake.

"Wow, what a day!" Des said, stretching out on the soft grass.

"It 'as been vury good, plus ve got to make new friends," Anja said.

"Yes, that's always good. Now if you'll excuse me, I must get to the library," said Harry wlaking to Nikki.

She hugged him anf held on tightly. She whispered to him, "Be careful." Harry gave her an odd look and walked away.

Amy sat with her back against one of the oak trees, watching her friends chat merrily in front of her. She grinned and pushed her glasses up on her nose and pretended to read her book, but her mind had wandered elsewhere. She'd made so many friends already and it was only the second day of school. They were all so nice to her, even if her aunt was loony ol' Trelawney.

She glanced around once again and watched as Logan smiled shyly at Anja and then with a wave, turned and headed Amy's way. She tried to busy herself with her book, but Logan blatantly said, "Your book is upside down." She peered up at him over the rims of her glasses.

Logan grinned as he took a spot near her and he watched Anja stroll towards Des and Nikki who were trying to catch fish with the Accio spell.

"If you help me out, I'll help you out."

"What are you going on about?"

"I mean Anja... She's so beautiful." He propped up his legs and rested his head in his hands, gazing longingly at her. Amy smiled and watched his facial expressions, all of them happy.

"Just be a total kiss ass. Girls like that."

"But how do I do that? I can barely even talk to her without getting all choked up."

"Just give it time..."

"And what about you and Demitri? I saw the way you two looked at each other."

"It's probably nothing."

Amy hung her head and sighed, digging her toes into the sand. Back in California, she had left her boyfriend because she was moving so far away. She still remembered how much she had wanted to cry on the plane trip over. He was sad as well, but he was probably over it by now.

"Don't say that. Anything can happen, this is a school of magic."

And, as if on cue, Des screamed as a large fish jumped from the lake and wiggled and flopped in the air, her wand still pointed at the fish. Amy smiled and pushed her glasses back up on her nose.

"I guess you're right. It's definately not Cali, but it'll suffice."

Logan nodded and then bid her and Anja goodbye, and he left to join Demitri and some other fellows in a fair game of quidditch. Amy stood up and walked towards the edge of the lake, peering in. She watched the tiny ripples lick along the shore and she smiled, looking up to the lake.

Her eyes grew wide in terror as she watched a head bob up to the surface of the lake.

"What are you doing here?" Amy thought to the creature, anger laced within the thought.

"I'm here to settle a score."

"Begone with you, you wretched fool, you have no place near this castle!"

"But you are wrong, blonde child. I have every right to be here."

Amy whipped out her wand with the unicorn hair inside of it and pointed it at the head in the water. Long green hair covered glowing red eyes and fin-like ears protruded from the hair. It faintly resembled a mermaid, but nothing as majestic as the merfolks. Creatures like this are crude, annoying, and violent. Their name is the Bipedalamphibionilous, but are called 'hibions' for short.

"What do you want with Hogwarts so bad to swim all the way across the ocean to get here?"

"Revenge..." the hibion let out a long squeal so high-pitched, it felt as if Amy's glasses would shatter.

"Expelliarmous!"

A bright light shot out of the tip oif her want and hit the water just after the hibion had disappeared into the depths of the lake.

Amy stood befounded on the shore, the other girls running towards her.

"Amy, vhat's wrong?" Anja asked, gingerly thouching Amy's shoulder.

"N... nothing." she shook her head, plastering a fake smile on her face. She had to wait to tell her friends about the hibion; wait until she knew, and could trust, them a little better.


End file.
